Dead Tooth: “Being in a band turns your whole life into an art project”

Queens-based brazen punk quintet Dead Tooth have just released their addictively distorted punk rock release ‘Birthday Boohoo’ and are gearing up for an extensive European tour. It seemed like the perfect time to ask Dead Tooth’s Zach some questions about their life as musicians, the upcoming tour, and future plans!

Hi! Could you introduce yourself to us and who inspires you as musicians? “This is Zach from Dead Tooth. A few personal influences for me are At the Drive In, John Prine and Mark Linkous.”

What is your latest release about and what was the writing process like? “Our latest single ‘Birthday Boohoo’ is about walking into your own surprise birthday party on too many ‘shrooms. It started as a demo that I wrote in my room. I drummed out this wild beat on my keyboard and had these two really menacing riffs. We were recording later that week and had some extra time in the studio so we jammed on the two parts with everything isolated to a click track for about 20 minutes. I then took the stems and remixed them by building loops out of parts I liked. Then we learned that version of the song and took it back in to Hive Mind studios and laid down what you hear on the record.”

Who do you hope will hear the new single, what do you hope to achieve with it? “Anyone struggling. Especially, with too many shrooms at their own surprise birthday party.”

What do you enjoy most about being in a band? “Having an outlet to perform and create through. It turns your whole life into an art project.

You’re gearing up for an international tour, what was the toughest, and what was the easiest part of getting that tour together and what are you most looking forward to? “The easiest part is saying yes when you’re asked. Everyone wants to tour Europe. The tough part is figuring out the logistics. How to have a job lined up when you come back. I don’t and it’s terrifying. Making sure you have the right power adapters. Gil at Annibale has been really helpful with checking and double checking everything for us. There’s so many things you don’t think of. You’ve got to open up foreign bank accounts so you can get paid. Arranging vehicle rentals and travel for 5 people. Getting merchandise shipped somewhere where you don’t know anyone. There’s a million distractions before leaving. Everyone wants to hang cause you’re about to be gone for a while. I’m really looking forward to having a beer on a canal. Being in cities that are exponentially older than my country. Espresso. Eating well. Being in countries that don’t have a diabetes awareness month. Oh and hospitality. It’s so nice in the EU coming from NY.”

What makes your live show so engaging and fun to watch? How do you keep the energy high? “We can’t give away these secrets…”

What’s next on your band calendar? “An EP and an album.”

What are some of your goals for the next three years? “Tour more. Make more music. We’re talking about going to China.”